Slide distraction

The moment you click to a new slide, you will lose the connection with your audience for a moment.

Reading bullet point 1, 2, 3, and 4

Whoo, that is a pretty girl there in that picture, the colour of her sweater does not match her bag though.

Is that graph sales in billions? No, growth in percentages. OK

Why are these boxes not aligned? On purpose?

For a well-designed slide, this disconnect only lasts a few seconds. You glance at the visual, get the point, and move your attention back to the speaker.

But even for well-designed charts, I have heard the speaker going off track. The slide gets put up, and the speaker starts with an anecdote or a story (as every presentation expert is preaching to you to do), but there is a disconnect between the story and the visual. The audience is trying to make the connection between the blue square on the slide, and your anecdote involving 2 swans you saw when you were a child.

The solution is simple: quickly explain the big point of your slide (that blue square), and then feel free to wander of with your personal story.